Once again I find myself a little behind schedule in regards to writing my blog. I got home late Thursday night (Friday morning) and opted to hold off writing my blog from the Fall Jamboree at the Deer Creek Speedway. Then I ventured down to the Marshalltown Speedway Friday night for the first night of the Havoc on the Highbanks. So here it is at 1:20am late Friday night and I'm gonna write both recaps.
103 USMTS modifieds along with 41 Wissota Midwest modifieds were on hand for opening night of the 13th Annual Featherlite Fall Jamboree held at the Deer Creek Speedway just north of Spring Valley, Minnesota. Four heats of the midwest mods were run first before eight USMTS heats hit the track. Two b-mains for the Wissota cars and five last chance races for USMTS would round out the qualifying events and set the stage for the features. Dustin Scott would take home top honors in the Wissota Midwest Modified feature. I have to apologize as I'm not familiar with driver names in this division, although I did take notes with car numbers. It was a good race for second on back with the 07 and 16 mixing it up. Kylie Kath started deep in the field after transferring out of a b-main to finish fourth.
Thirty-one USMTS cars were then ready to duke it out for the $3,000 top prize. Terry Phillips and Johnny Scott sat on the front row when the green flag came out for the thirty-lap finale. Phillips would get the edge on the start while Scott followed in second. After starting seventh, Brad Waits wasted no time in slicing his way forward as he quickly advanced to third in just two laps. Two laps later he passed Johnny Scott on the inside to slide into the runner up spot. Meanwhile USMTS national points leader Ryan Gustin was also making his way through traffic. After starting thirteenth, he worked his way up to sixth by lap five. On lap eight Waits took command of the race when he passed Phillips on the inside. Rodney Sanders worked his way under Scott for the third spot while Gustin worked the top side to get by Steve Wetstein for fifth. Scott, Gustin, and Jason Cummins were racing fiercely for the third position before the caution waved with three laps to go. Terry Phillips made contact with Josh Angst, who was about to go a lap down, and spun him around. Phillips was sent to the tail as it was decided it was rough driving, but Phillips exited the track before the restart. Not even the yellow flag could slow down Brad Waits as he picked up another impressive win in limited seat time in the modified. Rodney Sanders finished second, Johnny Scott was third, Ryan Gustin was fourth, and Jason Cummins rounded out the top five.
By virtue of his fourth place run, coupled with Kelly Shryock's bad luck in taking a provisional and finishing deeper in the pack, Ryan Gustin merely will be crowned the 2011 USMTS national champion. Shryock sits second with Jason Hughes behind him. Hughes struggled Thursday night as well.
Friday night I made the trip back to the Marshalltown Speedway for the first night of the Havoc on the Highbanks in conjunction with the Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA modifieds. A great field of cars were on hand in all divisions as I believe I heard 158 total cars packed in the pits.
Mod-lites were first up for their feature event as sixteen cars were ready to rumble. Bryan Zehm took control from the start while the rest of the pack mixed it up. Josh May was on the moved and quickly worked his way to briefly take the lead, but while under caution he would exit the track as smoke bellowed from the left rear of his machine. Zehm would resume with the lead followed by Tim Hennigar and Joel Huggins next in line. Zehm would distance himself on his way to victory lane ahead of Tim Hennigar, Colby Oberembt, Joel Huggins, and James May.
IMCA hobby stocks were up next. All but one car was able to make the call for the feature and Scott Pippert would lead the first lap prior to the caution being waved on lap two. On the restart Devin Smith split the first full row on the double file restart from his fifth-place restart position to grab the lead. Smith would open up a straight away lead as the field battled it out behind him. A late restart would put Kevin Fee on Smith's rear bumper, allowing him to keep pace momentarily. But Smith would go on to pick up his 39th IMCA victory of the season. Kevin Fee finished second, Scott Pippert was third, Brandon Britton was fourth, and Austin Luellen rounded out the top five.
Next up would be the IMCA sportmods. I believe I heard 41 were on hand, and the front row would consist of Tyler Droste and Jared VanDeest. However it would be Cayden Carter snagging the top spot after he took his third-place starting machine to the outside and built up momentum from the cushion. Former national champion Austin Kaplan used the same line to get by Droste for second prior to the caution flag waving on lap three. Jenae Gustin would take advantage on the restart as she took her machine from seventh to fifth after passing Carter VanDenBerg. Four more yellow flags would wave throughout the race, but nobody was able to keep pace with Cayden Carter as he picked up his 28th win of the season. Austin Kaplan finished second, Doug Smith had a great run to finish third after starting 23rd, Jenae Gustin was fourth, and Tyler Droste rounded out the top five.
Perhaps the most exciting race of the night was about to begin as the IMCA stock cars hit the track. The front row would find Brian Irvine and Damon Murty in the catbird seats, and they put on a heck of a show for the fans! Murty ran the high side to set the early pace, but Irvine kept digging on the inside line around the tires to track him down. Murty changed lanes going into turn one and made contact with Irvine's car, but both were able to continue on without any significant damage. Irvine would diamond turns one and two to sneak under Murty exiting turn two to take the top spot away. That turned out to be the winning pass as the race went green to checkered and Irvine picked up the win. Murty settled for second, Donavon Smith was third, Jay Schmidt finished fourth, and Steve Meyer completed the top five.
The stage was now set for the thirty-lap finale for the JR Motorsports Hawkeye Dirt Tour for IMCA modifieds. Scott Hogan and Richie Gustin had the luck of the draw on their sides as they sat on the front row. Hogan would push in turn four coming to complete the first lap, allowing Richie Gustin to take the lead. Todd Hansen would settle into second prior to the caution flag waving on lap two. On the restart both Jon Snyder and Luke Wanninger bolted to the bottom side of the speedway and picked off a couple cars each with Snyder advancing to second and Wanninger to fourth, respectively. Wanninger would later sneak by Jeff Waterman for third before Hansen spun his machine in turn two. Darin Duffy would also get collected and have to restart at the tail of the field.
Joe Docekal made a great move to the inside on the restart to pick up the fourth position after restarting sixth. Yet another caution waved on lap nineteen when Jimmy Gustin lost a motor and was unable to exit the track completely. Vern Jackson found the inside line to his liking on the restart as he picked off Adam Larson and Docekal to move into the fourth position. Meanwhile Wanninger was fading as Jackson and Ronn Lauritzen both got by to pick up positions. With three laps remaining Snyder would bring out the caution as a radiator hose broke exiting turn four. With Jackson and Lauritzen lined up behind Richie Gustin, the three raced three-wide exiting turn two after the restart. Lauritzen would edge out Gustin at the line and exiting turn two the next lap by, but Gustin was able to find some bite on the top side of turn four to regain the lead at the white flag before fending them off for the win. Lauritzen finished second, Jackson was third, Darin Duffy rebounded nice to finish fourth, and Jacob Murray rounded out the top five. Milo Veloz started twenty-second on the grid and finished sixth.
The racing was exciting in all divisions! The only bad thing was the number of caution flags throughout the night. Kudos to the staff for keeping the action moving as quickly as they could.
Saturday I'm heading back up to the Deer Creek Speedway for the final night of the Fall Jamboree. Then Sunday I'm going to make the journey over to the Quad City Raceway in East Moline to take in the IMCA Deery Brothers late model series final event. Be sure to get out and support this fine sport of ours before the season comes to an end!!
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